Homemade Churros

The churro.

An amazing combination of fried dough, sugar and cinnamon goodness; especially scrumptious when hot and freshly rolled in cinnamon sugar. Based on my extensive research, everybody loves them.

In continuing with the Mexican theme these past few days and at Ashley's suggestion, I decided to make Homemade Churros.

After that choice was made, I went on a fact-finding mission to see just what it would take to make your own churros. What amazed me was that I had everything I needed already in my pantry. How awesome is that? I can guarantee that if you ever do anything baking related, you do as well.

Process

I spent some time searching online for what appeared to be a good, easy, at-home recipe and I finally landed here. The instructions were pretty clear and the results, well, I will let those speak for themselves.

Begin by heating some oil in a large frying pan. A good depth of the oil is about two inches. As with all frying, the temperature is crucial. If you have a frying/candy thermometer you want to be at 375°F or at the doughnut marker. Any hotter and you'll burn, any cooler and the churros will be soggy. If you do not have a thermometer, there is a quick little test you can do (which I will explain later).

If you have cinnamon sugar already, great. If not, you can easily make some by combining a teaspoon of cinnamon to a quarter cup of sugar. Depending on your preferences, you can change this ratio easily.

Using a three-quart saucepan, combine the water, brown sugar, salt and butter together and bring to a boil over medium heat. After it has reached a vigorous boil, remove from the burner and add the flour. Mix thoroughly (can be done by hand or a mixer). In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla together and then add to the flour mixture. Mix by hand until the dough is well combined.

To get the signature star-shape that churros have, you can use a cake decorating tool with the largest star-shape. If you do not this equipment, that's okay, you can fry the dough without it, just make sure none of the churros are too big or it wont cook throughout. 

You can test to see if the oil is ready by dropping some dough in it and observing. If the churro bubbles and sizzles immediately, it is ready. Let each side of the churro cook for about 1 minute each. You can do a few test runs (and tastings) to get a good feel for how long the dough should stay in the oil. I also played with some funky shapes (as you can see in the title picture), feel free to mess around and have fun.

After the churros are done cooking, remove from the oil and place onto a paper towel. This will absorb any excess oil. Roll the churros into the cinnamon sugar mixture and serve immediately. As you can see below, I also served the smaller churros with vanilla ice cream and they proved to be a great accompaniment. 

Homemade Churros

Ingredients

1 cup water
2 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/3 cup butter, unsalted
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat 2 inches worth of oil to 375°F in a large frying pan. On a plate, mix the 1/4 cup sugar with the 1 tsp cinnamon and set aside.
2. In a 3 quart saucepan add the water, brown sugar, salt, and butter mixture together. Heat until a vigorous boil. Remove from heat and add the flour. Mix thoroughly.
3. In a bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla together and then add into the flour mixture until well-combined.
4. Using a frosting decorating tool with a large star attachment, proceed to squeeze dough into the oil. You can test if the oil is ready with a frying/candy thermometer or dropping a test piece of dough in. If ready, the dough will bubble and sizzle right away.
5. Let each side of the dough cook for about 1 minute each. Remove from the oil and place on paper towel to absorb excess oil.
6. Roll into cinnamon sugar and serve immediately.